Santa gives the reindeer a few months off every year, so inevitably they’re going to cause trouble.
A health board inquiry is under way after a young reindeer was taken into a Glasgow Children’s Hospital and allowed to interact with patients. The reindeer fawn, from a local reindeer farm, was paraded around the hospital
A couple questions that I received about C. difficile and hospital visitation dogs:
Is there any concern about cross contamination from dogs/handlers that visit health facilities and get contaminated by C. difficile? I see on this site a concern about dogs being contaminated by visitation and I wonder if the Delta Society has considered this
There’s an interesting article in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about Scooter, a paralyzed cat in a custom-made cart, that visits patients at HealthSouth Harmarville Rehabilitation Hospital. It’s a nice story and it’s easy to see the potential appeal of a paralyzed animal whipping around a rehab hospital as an inspiration to patients.
Obviously, people
In 2005, "Paro," an interactive robotic pet, was introduced in Japan. It looks like a baby seal, and has 12 tactile sensors in its fur, touch-sensitive whiskers and a system of motors that silently move its parts. While this "pet" didn’t really catch on in Japan, it’s made its way to the US and
While I hate to initiate another round of emails from raw diet supporters, here are a few of the more common questions that I get about these diets and some answers:
I use frozen raw food. Doesn’t freezing kill harmful microorganisms?
Since my post about Delta Society and raw diets, I’ve had multiple questions or comments about the research behind it.
Here’s one question:
"Please site the research that "clearly show…" that raw-fed animals shed bacteria at a higher rate."
Here’s the answer:
Lefebvre et al, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 2009
Delta Society has recently announced a policy prohibiting animals fed raw meat or raw animal products from participating in their Pet Partners program. This policy was established because of research indicating dogs fed raw meat are much more likely to be shedding harmful bacteria like Salmonella and drug resistant E. coli in their feces
.A Texas couple is undergoing rabies post-exposure prophylaxis after an abandoned puppy they adopted was diagnosed with rabies. They found the puppy outside and brought it into their house. One of them was subsequently bitten and they found out about the rabies diagnosis on Christmas eve.
One of the couple is quoted as
.An article about a therapy dog demonstrates some good points of these programs and places to improve. The story is about "Taco", a Chihuahua involved in pet therapy at the Livingston Regional Hospital (Tennessee). The obvious benefit of the program is highlighted by the owner’s comment "She creates smiles when there were
Clostridium difficile is a high-profile bacterium, being an important cause of illness and death in people. It can also be found in various animal species, including dogs and cats. In a study we published earlier this year (Lefebvre et al, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 2009), factors associated with
